The Summer Of My Discontent

While the more commonly known phrase referencing discontent may be rooted in politics, rest assured that’s not what this post is about. It probably hasn’t gone unnoticed by some readers that, without any warning, I completely skipped out on posting in August.

And then poof, magically I reappeared this past Monday. Since I have no paid or sponsored content, I’m free to write (or not) as I please. The only payments I receive are my viewership stats and link-up participation. It’s easy to simply close up shop if I feel moved to do so but I think it only fair that I provide an explanation.

It’s mostly a tale as old as time, or at least as old as blogging. Too busy, a lack of motivation, needed a break, technical difficulties, blah blah blah. As I look back on the past couple of months, I’m fondly referring to that time as “the summer of my discontent” because while there were high points, there were also some lows.

No minor thing, “technical difficulties” were a significant obstacle during my time away from the blog. Even if I had wanted to post, there came a point when I couldn’t. I’d started to get notifications that my site was down or at least running very, very slowly. Then, a few minutes later, I’d get an “all clear” message. Since I was used to getting this kind of notice sporadically with no real problems arising, I didn’t give it a lot of thought when I got two few days apart at the end of June. The frequency of them picked up a little in July but since I was traveling most of the month, I’d hope that the issue(s) would resolve on their own and/or that the matter could wait until I had time to address it.

I was still able to publish posts later in July so I stuck with the fingers-crossed method of resolving whatever the technical problem was. We’d taken an extended weekend trip to Las Vegas at the end of the month and I hadn’t written my Monday post ahead of time so that was the first unannounced skip. And then I started to get into my own way.

The 8-year anniversary of my blog was early in August and I didn’t have any content planned for it nor any relatable photos. At the same time, my fingers-crossed solution to the technical issues stopped working, so I finally got in touch with my hosting platform. It took three somewhat frustrating interactions over the course of about 10 days for the problem(s) to be adequately addressed. And still, I didn’t get back to posting.

It wasn’t for a lack of content. My plans had included publishing part 2 of the Alaska trip we had gone on in July plus a post about our 3 days in British Columbia as well as another on insights about cruising you didn’t know you needed to know. Except by mid-August, it felt untimely to write on those topics since more than a month had passed already. On top of that, I was lacking a bit on photos to go with that content.

Like many other bloggers, I typically punctuate my writing with photos that fit the content. Mostly, those photos are of me in an outfit or me in a locale. If the post is mostly about a trip we’ve taken, then there are also scenic photos relating to the place(s) we visited. I’ve found that it’s not always easy to take photos on the go without the trip being just about taking photos for the blog.

Have I mentioned yet the souvenir that The Husband and I brought home with us from our Alaska trip? Yah, a little ol’ bout of COVID. Towards the end of our travels, The Husband began to get a little sneezing but it wasn’t until we got home that we thought about doing at-home tests on ourselves. The results line on his popped out immediately while my test was negative. The Husband was subsequently confined to our bedroom and I took up residency in the guest bedroom hoping to limit my exposure and avoid coming down it. For the next few days, my daily tests were still negative but after a night when my throat started to feel scratchy, I too got the confirmation that I had come down with COVID. Fortunately for both of us, our symptoms were much milder than our first go-around a year ago and we cleared several days faster.

Topping all of that, Summer is my least favorite time of year both weather and clothing-wise. I don’t like the heat which is one of the top reasons I’m so glad that we live near the coast. I think there has been only one day this Summer when the daytime temperature in our area got as high as 80°. Mostly we’ve been enjoying temps in the low to mid-70s. Except for the weekend we spent in Las Vegas that I mentioned previously.

On the bright side, besides the entertainment and gambling that LV is famous for, another of my favorite things to do there is, of course, to go shopping. I’m especially fond of the Fashion Show Mall as it offers a number of stores there that I don’t have in my area. Time permitting, I like to pop into that mall if I get the chance and as luck would have it, I got such a chance.

Outfit details: Kimono, Johnny Was (no longer available); Wide-leg jeans, Old Navy (from my Fall In Line style remix collection); Sandals, Korks; Pearl necklace, anniversary gift from many years ago

In tomorrow’s post, I’ll be showing off another purchase made at Dillard’s. I so adore that store; I find it such a pleasure to shop there and I usually find something I simply couldn’t live without 😉. The whole experience of being in that store is what I remember it was like shopping in department stores 20 or so years ago. IYKYK. I also got a chance to visit the Dillard’s in Summerlin and that store was even better.

After our stop at Dillard’s, The Husband and I strolled through the rest of the mall and happened past Johnny Was which is one of those “not in my area” stores. However, there is one in my nearby outlet mall that I’ve browsed around in a time or two. The sales staff was very friendly and made sure that I knew that the on-sale items already marked down 30% were an additional 30% off. When I came across the kimono you see me wearing in these photos, I couldn’t resist. Although The Husband had entered the store with me, he had wandered out back into the mall and wasn’t around to discourage my decision to buy it. By the time he reappeared, I was already at the register, credit card in hand.

On the day I wore this ensemble a week or so ago, The Husband and I had taken a drive to the Santa Ynez Valley which is about an hour from our home. Our first stop was in Solvang where spent a couple of hours strolling through some of the shops and bakeries. Afterward, we headed a little further north to Los Olivos for a little wine tasting and dinner. My favorite winery tasting room to visit is one that has a local bakery outpost that offers a flight of 6 mini-cupcakes. So yummy.

For dinner, we dined at Petros Winery & Restaurant. Also very yummy. Celebrating our 32nd wedding anniversary was the reason for this little trip and it was a lovely day. Before going home, our last stop on the day’s itinerary was at the Indian casino that’s in the area that we’ve been known to frequent once or twice a month. Luck was on our side that evening as it was so many years ago and we both won.

So the blog is running again, we’ve recovered from COVID, and I’ve got photos queued up for future posts. Fingers-crossed, there will be no further delays in publishing the tantalizing and intriguing content I have planned for the next several months.

Stay well and let’s keep in touch! Subscribe, tweet, follow, friend, pin … all options are available. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

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Note: This is an unsponsored post; however, some or all of the links to clothing items are associated with an affiliate program where I earned a few cents for each click.

Photo credit: MMPerez